"As long as they play hard, I'll be happy"

[seniorsooner]

I seem to have seen variations of that statement repeated quite a bit on this board. At what point does that not cut the mustard? After all, why should we have to take note of and be pleased by the fact that the team is actually trying? Isn't that something they're SUPPOSED to do? It would kind of be like saying "I'm really pleased that my car started this morning." I'm getting to the point that I really don't give a rip what the effort is like as long as we're putting an utterly pathetic product on the floor. You can have the hardest working team in America and if you finish 8-24 it really doesn't do a whole lot for you.

 

[thebigabd]

Ya, there has been a lot of that. I figured it would fly until the team actually lost or started getting embarrassed.

 

[Cheno]

Pretty spot on Senior

 

[Pizza the Hutt]

Yep, like I said, I'll be happy to see PROGRESS. We digressed in Maui, kind of like Capel has digressed since Blake left.

 

[campbest]

I seem to have seen variations of that statement repeated quite a bit on this board. At what point does that not cut the mustard? After all, why should we have to take note of and be pleased by the fact that the team is actually trying? Isn't that something they're SUPPOSED to do? It would kind of be like saying "I'm really pleased that my car started this morning." I'm getting to the point that I really don't give a rip what the effort is like as long as we're putting an utterly pathetic product on the floor. You can have the hardest working team in America and if you finish 8-24 it really doesn't do a whole lot for you.

The "as long as they play hard, I'll be happy" quote is one of the most BS stances in all of sports. This is high major Division I basketball, you can only watch a pathetic product for so long.

 

[opsooner]

Sure; we will all be satisfied with the players effort if they give it their best. The question is will they get better and, more so, will they be coached into position to make them better and win any more games? They succeeded in setting the expectation bar even lower than most of us thought so they now have no where to go but up.

 

[Edmond_Sooner]

Ya, there has been a lot of that. I figured it would fly until the team actually lost or started getting embarrassed.

I'm not upset they have lost, i was very proud of this team after the Kentucky game...i felt they really took the fight to them...

the problem i have is not with the team actually, it is the fact that they are consistently not prepared...also they are consistently in poor defensive position, poor offensive position, etc...

I just dont feel like i see this team, or last years team doing anything different from game to game to get better...

I watched A&M play today and they were just plain up in the grill all game of the opponent...i know they lost, but one thing you can count on from A&M game in game out is that they will defend...

What can you count on from OU? I'm still trying to figure that out...

I guess i can count on us pulling old Blake Griffin clips to make us feel warm and fuzzy, because that is all there is...

 

[seniorsooner]

The "as long as they play hard, I'll be happy" quote is one of the most BS stances in all of sports. This is high major Division I basketball, you can only watch a pathetic product for so long.

You mean this isn't 6 year old girls' soccer? Should we take them out for ice cream after they get pasted by Oral Roberts?

 

[sybarite]

The "as long as they play hard, I'll be happy" quote is one of the most BS stances in all of sports. This is high major Division I basketball, you can only watch a pathetic product for so long.

And, you pay these twenty year old students how much?

 

[campbest]

And, you pay these twenty year old students how much?

Not advocating getting rid of players, just understand a fans' frustration of "just playing hard." Coaching staff has to do better than "just playing hard", that doesn't cut it in high major sports. College athletics are a business, that is just the sign of the times.

 

[BigTime]

I seem to have seen variations of that statement repeated quite a bit on this board. At what point does that not cut the mustard? After all, why should we have to take note of and be pleased by the fact that the team is actually trying? Isn't that something they're SUPPOSED to do? It would kind of be like saying "I'm really pleased that my car started this morning." I'm getting to the point that I really don't give a rip what the effort is like as long as we're putting an utterly pathetic product on the floor. You can have the hardest working team in America and if you finish 8-24 it really doesn't do a whole lot for you.

C'mon, senior, you are better than this.

Let's lay few facts down about this team:

Fact 1: There are 8 new guys on this roster (nine if you count Honore).
Fact 2: We have none, zip, zero size on this roster with Fitzgerald (a power foward) playing center.
Fact 3: We were picked 11th in the league
Fact 4: Everyone knows that Capel had to clean up the program from the mess that he created last year.
Fact 5: It was difficult to get bodies and coaches to come in here with guys like Gary Parish writing that this program was going to get the death penalty.
Fact 6: Our best player can't play this year (straight out of Capel's mouth to my capelables group and we have a guy that is considered a solid, mature center prospect ready to enter the program next year in Rob Goff.

Who gets the blame for this? Coach Capel.

That said, the only (and I mean the ONLY) reason that folks like me are wanting this team to play with effort this year is because that would at least show that this staff is getting these kids to buy in and set up for NEXT year. We aren't set up to win games this year. We don't have the talent or the right type of guys to do it. I'm sorry but its true. Next year we do.

So I want to see this group play hard, dive for loose balls, block out, and have some freakin pride when they play so that next year we can come back and be where we are supposed to be (the NCAA tourney, upper third of the Big 12 conference etc...).

They did it against Kentucky. They didn't do it against UVA or Chaminade. I expect them to do it every game. If they don't then I think it may be time to make some serious changes.

I am not normally (and by normally I mean hopefully never again) going to be taking the mantra of: "As long as they play hard, I'll be happy" but if you can't see the circumstances that led me to get to this point (read the facts at the top of the post again) then I can't help you.

Effort this year. Win next year. If not then let's go a different direction. That's my mantra.

 

[CMSOONER]

Well said BT, 100% agree.

 

[BigTime]

Well said BT, 100% agree.

Thanks bud. I really don't think it was too hard to understand where folks like you and I are coming from and I am a little pissed that I had to sit there and spell it out for people, but whatever.

Nobody is happy where we are as a program right now. Nobody (not even Faithful). But you've got to support your program and play the hand that you are dealt.

 

[sybarite]

Not advocating getting rid of players, just understand a fans' frustration of "just playing hard." Coaching staff has to do better than "just playing hard", that doesn't cut it in high major sports. College athletics are a business, that is just the sign of the times.

Wrong sign to be learning at a university.

 

[jerry]

I seem to have seen variations of that statement repeated quite a bit on this board. At what point does that not cut the mustard? After all, why should we have to take note of and be pleased by the fact that the team is actually trying? Isn't that something they're SUPPOSED to do? It would kind of be like saying "I'm really pleased that my car started this morning." I'm getting to the point that I really don't give a rip what the effort is like as long as we're putting an utterly pathetic product on the floor. You can have the hardest working team in America and if you finish 8-24 it really doesn't do a whole lot for you.

Absolutely agree. The bottom line is a top 20 program has been reduced to a last place team in the conference they are in. Sadly, only one person accountable for that unless you want to hold the AD accountable too that hired him.

 

[playmakr]

I agree. This isn't little league.

 

[WaymanFan]

Guilty as charged...for the '10-'11 season only. I did echo that line several times. The problem is, we're not playing hard. If they brought max effort every game, OU would be 5-1 right now. That "moral victory" against UK could have only been a moral victory if OU had taken care of business in the next two games, and used it as a spring board for the rest of the year.

 

[Max Power]

Guilty as charged...for the '10-'11 season only. I did echo that line several times. The problem is, we're not playing hard. If they brought max effort every game, OU would be 5-1 right now. That "moral victory" against UK could have only been a moral victory if OU had taken care of business in the next two games, and used it as a spring board for the rest of the year.

This

 

[jerry]

C'mon, senior, you are better than this.

Let's lay few facts down about this team:

Fact 1: There are 8 new guys on this roster (nine if you count Honore).
Fact 2: We have none, zip, zero size on this roster with Fitzgerald (a power foward) playing center.
Fact 3: We were picked 11th in the league
Fact 4: Everyone knows that Capel had to clean up the program from the mess that he created last year.
Fact 5: It was difficult to get bodies and coaches to come in here with guys like Gary Parish writing that this program was going to get the death penalty.
Fact 6: Our best player can't play this year (straight out of Capel's mouth to my capelables group and we have a guy that is considered a solid, mature center prospect ready to enter the program next year in Rob Goff.

Who gets the blame for this? Coach Capel.

That said, the only (and I mean the ONLY) reason that folks like me are wanting this team to play with effort this year is because that would at least show that this staff is getting these kids to buy in and set up for NEXT year. We aren't set up to win games this year. We don't have the talent or the right type of guys to do it. I'm sorry but its true. Next year we do.

So I want to see this group play hard, dive for loose balls, block out, and have some freakin pride when they play so that next year we can come back and be where we are supposed to be (the NCAA tourney, upper third of the Big 12 conference etc...).

They did it against Kentucky. They didn't do it against UVA or Chaminade. I expect them to do it every game. If they don't then I think it may be time to make some serious changes.

I am not normally (and by normally I mean hopefully never again) going to be taking the mantra of: "As long as they play hard, I'll be happy" but if you can't see the circumstances that led me to get to this point (read the facts at the top of the post again) then I can't help you.

Effort this year. Win next year. If not then let's go a different direction. That's my mantra.

And whose fault is that BigTime??? You can sit and wait all you want but it ain't gone to happen with present leadership. I ask you would you want to go to a school as a top recruit when you know the coach is in trouble??

 

[thebigabd]

Tubby Smith or Mark Fox.